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Patch 5.4 PTR: Jard and his amazing engineering journal
For those of us who have picked the best profession (that would be engineering), we've finally got some new schematics in patch 5.4 to mess around with! Fortunately, there are no reputations to grind, no insane amount of gold or obscure items we have to pay to obtain these new schematics. In fact, in a departure from the usual, all engineers have to obtain is one item to learn all new schematics for patch 5.4: Chief Engineer Jard's Journal. At the present time, the journal drops from any mob in the Vale -- I got mine from the first sha I killed. Reading the journal will teach you Jard's secrets. Apparently, he really wasn't into explosives at all. You'll get the schematics for Pierre, the Rascal Bot, the Advanced Refrigeration Unit, and the Sky Claw when you learn the journal, as well as the item you'll need to make all of them -- Jard's Peculiar Energy Source. And this is where it gets a little frustrating, to say the least. Creating the energy source is easy, you only need 10 Ghost Iron Bars. What's frustrating is the cooldown -- you can only make one energy source per day. It's very much like the cooldown for Imperial Silk, except that there isn't an option to use Spirits of Harmony to bypass the cooldown at the present time.
Gold Capped: Leveling blacksmithing just got easier
WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make gold on the Auction House. Check out Basil's gold making podcast, Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! The PTR for patch 5.2 has a real treat in store for people who want to powerlevel Blacksmithing: you will now be able to get to 500 skill without having to wait for those rare old-world materials to show up on the Auction House! If you are level 85 and up, all you have to do is visit your Blacksmithing trainer in your faction's shrine (the same one that sells recipes for Spirits of Harmony), and they will offer you a fast-track path straight to 500 skill. The way it works is that you will be able to train patterns that take only Ghost Iron Bars to make grey items, and once you get up to 500 skill, there's a quest to make a Ghostly Skeleton Key. At the time this article was written, the data-mined recipes on the Wowhead.com PTR site seem to indicate that it will take a lot of ghost iron to complete. Of course, this might receive a rework before it hits live.
Patch 5.2 Prep: Get ahead of the game
Patch 5.2 will bring new dailies, new factions, another raid, and a kitchen sink. It's pretty much a super patch. With so many additions, you may start to feel overwhelmed at the thought of class changes on top of new grinds -- and you know, pets and stuff. Never fear, we're here to help you prepare! Before we get too deep into this, remember that everything we've learned about patch 5.2 is from the PTR. Things can change! Farm (or buy) Ghost Iron. Both blacksmithing and engineering will see new unique crafting materials similar to the scribe's Scroll of Wisdom -- Lightning Steel Ingot and Stabilized Lightning Source, respectively. Both require 10 Ghost Iron bars, so snag some Ghost Iron now, and use some of it to transmute into Living Steel. Many new crafted items will require it. Get ahead in your Wrathion quests. In 5.2, Wrathion will ask for 40 Trillium Bars in a quest on the way to the legendary meta gems, so start gathering the ore now to get a head start. Get your Tillers rep to Exalted and unlock all plots. Although farming may not be appealing to everyone, Tillers rep is one of the easiest to max out. At Exalted, we'll be able to use work orders to gain rep in patch 5.2.
Gold Capped: Shuffling Ore in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Basil's re-reboot of Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! What's my favorite part of the expansion so far? The way that Blizzard has reworked the Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, and Alchemy professions to more efficiently support the "shuffle". That's a cute little name we auctioneers give to a fairly complicated business that takes ore and turns it into cut gems and enchanting scrolls. In every expansion where this has been possible, there's been a ton of waste. It's great to be able to make gold by combining profession synergy, but vendoring stacks of, for example, green quality gems feels like a waste. How to do the MoP shuffle While the business seems complicated to outsiders, it's actually a lot simpler than it looks. Let's break it down:
Mists of Pandaria beta icon artwork
It's still extremely early in the beta -- servers aren't even live yet -- but goodies are already flooding in. MMO-Champion has posted a dump of many of the new art icons coming in this expansion. The art by itself isn't necessarily news, but the file names of those icons reveal some fun (if minor) details about upcoming content. For one, the icons include the names of the new ores and metals: Ghost Iron and Manticyte. There are also icons for new class spells such as the paladin's Holy Avenger and the rogue's updated poisons -- not to mention the icons for new gear, new achievements, and the pet types in the upcoming Pet Battle feature. The pet types appear to be critter, dragon, elemental, flying, humanoid, magical, mechanical, undead, and water. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
